


meet me in the hallway

by twilightvxen



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, this fic is heavily inspired by it's namesake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-28 20:45:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12615136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilightvxen/pseuds/twilightvxen
Summary: Betty and Jughead come to some agreements.Or, how I would have liked the post-beatdown of Jughead to have gone.





	meet me in the hallway

 

_I gotta get better, gotta get better, maybe we'll work it out_

 

He's sitting on the trailer steps, holding himself up against the door because his own body won't do it for him. Trembling fingers hover over the name shining on the phone screen in his right hand. The other wipes a little too roughly at the tears threatening to spill down his cheeks. It's too late to save himself from the truth now though, the moment is long gone like the Serpents who had dropped him on his doorstep with no intent to protect him from the night.

 

It doesn't take long for Jughead's resolve to break, and when his fingers finally take the plunge, his heart skips a beat and Betty's smile lights up his screen. It's a reminder of all the times he's missed her messages over the past week, calling him home while he was trying to build a place for himself elsewhere.

 

He counts the rings like he had counted the punches, but the flood of relief that comes when this number is significantly less than the latter does nothing to mask the pain in his ribs and in his sigh when her voice comes through the speaker in his ear.

 

"Juggie?" 

 

 _God_ , he had forgotten how amazing it felt to hear her say his name like that, filled with warmth and innocence, cut off by a little yawn that reminds him of how late it really is. He'll feel guilty later for waking her up on a school night, but right now he only cares about how much he needs the soft drag of her gentle fingers down his arms and the look in her eyes that wordlessly says how worried she is and how much she loves him at the same time.

 

"Betts," he breathes, the strain evident in his voice, "how are you?"

 

"Jug, what's wrong? Why do you sound like that? And why are you calling so late?"

 

He can hear when she switches onto high alert, knowing that Betty is suddenly much more awake than she was mere seconds ago, but he still stalls. "It's nothing, nothing bad okay? Just," he pauses and takes a deep breath, wincing before continuing, "do you think you could meet me at the trailer?"

 

"Jughead,  _please_ , tell me what's wrong. I need to know." Despite her demands, Jughead can hear the rustling of her sheets through the speaker, and it helps him breath easier like everything else Betty does for him. "I'm coming, I'll always come to you but you need to  _talk to me._ "

 

"I will, Betts. I promise I will. Just please drive safe."

 

Before he hangs up, a broken whisper of, "I love you, Jug" drifts into his ear, and Jughead thinks that maybe they'll work it out.

 

_give me some morphine, just take the pain away_

 

The slam of a car door brings Jughead back to reality, and when Betty appears in front of him, he sees tears shining in her eyes as they travel down the length of his body on the floor, wordlessly assessing the damage before shrugging her cardigan off onto the porch railing. When she leans down to his height, Jughead meets her eyes and the lazy smile that spread across his face at her arrival suddenly feels like a lie when he sees the pain in her features.

 

Without question, Betty wraps an arm around his waist, and he grabs her shoulder for support, working in tandem to get Jughead through the trailer doors and onto the couch. It's ironic, he thinks, that this is the situation in which they've worked together best over the past couple of weeks, and it makes him feel a different pain than the aching in his ribs.

 

Lost in thought, Jughead doesn't notice her leave the room, but when she appears by his side again, there's a wet cloth against his forehead and an unexpected iciness underneath his shirt. Betty cleans the cuts on his face in silence, and Jughead's eyes close in relaxation for the first time this night, but the quietness is hangs heavy in the air and he doesn't have to see her to know that Betty's bottom lip is pulled between her teeth just to stop the questions from spilling out.

 

_we don't talk about it, it's something we don't do_

 

Somewhere along the way, Jughead's shirt comes off and is replaced by soft hands run up and down his chest, pressing lightly and then retreating ever so slightly when he hisses in response. The ice pack makes it's way across his chest as well, and Betty's hands follow it's path, leaving warmth in the wake of cold. Her movements almost look peaceful, but at one point he feels the light pressure of nails digging into the skin of his arm, and it tells a different story.

 

Jughead is the first to break. It's the least he can do for her after she's stuck by his side through his awful behavior.

 

"Betty," he clears his throat to regain composure, "I am _so_ sorry for this, I never wanted you to get mixed up in this, I swear -"

 

A hard press of lips against his own makes Jughead swallow the rest of his sentence, and suddenly he is desperate for more, chasing after Betty who has already retreated, but a sharp pain in his side and a gentle hand on his chest holds him down against the couch. He searches her steely gaze, and the determination in her eyes is not something usually reserved for moments like these.

 

"Jughead Jones, don't you ever apologize for this.  _None_ of this is your fault whatsoever, you have to believe that."

 

She makes him wonder, is it possible to love someone this much?

 

"But how do you know that Betty? I should have told you the truth from the beginning, I need you to know that all of it was to keep you safe."

 

_I walked the streets all day, running with the thieves_

 

Her face melts, and Betty threads her finger through his own, staring down at the hands for a moment before making eye contact with all the forgiveness in the world. "What's done is done, Jug, but that doesn't mean we can't start over from here. Tell me, where did it happen and how did you get home?"

 

"I stayed late to finish cleaning up the Red and Black, I told you that my English teacher approved it right? And when I was leaving they were waiting for me on the stairwell. Some older serpents drove me home after I made it out into the parking lot."

 

A mixture of relief and incredulous crosses over Betty's face when he pauses for a breath. "At least you have them to look after you, but how could they just leave you outside the trailer like that?"

 

Her free hand moves upwards to cup his cheek, but Jughead catches it in his own, sitting up as straight as he can and bringing both intertwined hands between them. He can't believe that after the things he's done and the person he's becoming, Betty faith and support has never once wavered. There is no one else in his life he can say the same for.

 

He could leave it there, but sitting on the porch, Jughead had vowed he would tell Betty the  _whole_ truth, and he intends to do so. "They left me because  _it_ was them, Betts. Well, not them specifically, but when I was still on the stairs in school, I heard them as they walked away." It hurts to admit, and as he's finally letting it out, his eyes fill up with familiar tears. "The Serpents put a hit on me, Betty. Sweet Pea warned me about The Ghoulies but I  _know_ it was him, and there's nothing I can do but stand with them and act like I don't know a thing!"

 

Betty remains quiet in contemplation, and Jughead is searching her face frantically for the disappointment he expects, but instead, he's rewarded when she leans into him, untangling their hands and wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders, burying her face into his neck. "Oh Juggie," she breathes into the space between his neck and shoulder, "I'm so sorry, but I promise we'll work it out together. You can always, always come to me, there's nothing I want more than to help you through this, but you have to be willing to ask for help in the first place."

 

His tears finally fall, landing in her hair along with the shaky kiss he presses onto her forehead, "I promise, Betts, I promise I will."

 

_just let me know I'll be at the door, at the door_

 

It hurts in both good and bad ways, but they stay wrapped up in each other until the morning, keeping each other warm in the otherwise freezing trailer. Betty can't stay forever though, after all, she's still Alice Cooper's daughter, and they still go to different schools. One night is enough for now though, and at the crack of dawn, Betty checks his wounds one more time, placing a kiss over every cut and bruise until she finally reaches his lips with the intent of creating another bruise, although this one makes Jughead feel safe and wanted, unlike all the others.

 

He makes a promise to keep her up to date with all his Serpent business, and she promises to keep listening with an open mind like she always has. They also make one last promise, to always meet each other in the middle when it comes to communication, and it's one that Jughead is eager to keep.

 

_meet me in the hallway_

 

He kisses her goodbye one last time as she makes her way down the trailer steps, and the familiar smile that Jughead saw last night on his phone screen when he called her at his worst stretches across Betty's face, but nothing does her justice like the real thing shining up at him.

 

A small smile betrays him as he watches Betty go, and once again Jughead thinks that maybe, just maybe they'll work it out.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Just a quick little one-shot I was in the mood to write after Wednesday's mess of an episode. I hope yall enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it! Comments are greatly appreciated and hopefully, I'll be back with another Camp Sweetwater update soon! Title is from Meet Me In The Hallway by Harry Styles, it's a good one to listen to while reading. Tumblr: @twilightvxen


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